The 1857-O is numismatically significant as the final year of issue for No Motto half eagles from the New Orleans mint. Of the 13,000 struck, it is likely that no more than 100 or so survive with most in the VF-EF range. Properly graded AU’s are very scarce and locating an example with choice surfaces and natural color is extremely challenging.

This example has significantly above-average eye appeal for the date and grade. It is well struck and overlaid with natural green-gold color which is exactly “right” for this issue. There is no remaining luster but more than enough “meat” to verify the assigned grade and the surfaces are reasonably clean despite some old abrasions in the right obverse and a shallow, thin obverse scratch between stars eleven and twelve.

There have been no auction records for PCGS AU50′s since May 1998 and since 2005, just three NGC AU50′s have crossed the block.

This date is significantly scarcer in AU than its Charlotte, Dahlonega and San Francisco counterparts yet it is only priced at a small percentage higher than the southern issues.